4:41am, Tuesday September 3rd, 2019

That's not an answer that does anything good for Klaus' peace of mind and the asshole in him observes that at least meant the status quo was being upheld. He tries sharing a look with Ben but Ben is busy studying Five, concern etched into the lines of his face. Klaus looks back at his brother but there's nothing new to see there; just Five looking tired and pale but whole at least, his mind apparently intact again. Apparently. Maybe.

"What is it?" Klaus whispers conspiratorially but Ben just shakes his head, ponderous frown carved into his face like wood and Klaus really hates it when he does that. What was the point of having a brother only he could talk to if he kept everything to himself?

"Is it just the past four days you can't remember?" Vanya's asking and Five pulls his shoulders into a half shrug, staring at his hands.

"I think so, but I can't be certain." He gives a wan smile that's too stiff to be anything but forced, "It's not like I can remember what I've forgotten."

"Does that mean the Commission has a way to tamper with people's memories?" Luther looks alarmed at the possibility and Klaus can't really blame him. That was some crazy-ass Total Recall type shit.

"Not necessarily; they may have just kept me unconscious the whole time, though they do have some very advanced technology at their disposal. They can do a lot, but I don't know everything they're capable of." Five is clearly bothered by the implications, and it says something that he's clearly bothered but why the hell not? If Klaus had been told someone had possibly messed around with his brain while he was asleep he'd be freaking right the fuck out.

"If they were able to fix your memories they might have been able to tamper with them, too." Allison says, and Klaus thinks that of all of them she probably understands the implications the best.

Five's got a look on his face and if it were anyone else Klaus would identify as shame, but he can't recall Five having ever been ashamed about anything so it was kinda hard to tell. "I agree," he says, "Which is why I probably shouldn't hang around."

That gets a solid round of unilateral rejection from everyone in the room, Klaus included. Five going anywhere wasn't going to do anything but send the rest of them into varying degrees of constant anxiety and they've already played that game, thank you very much.

Vanya shakes her head. "Five, we just got you back; I don't want you to go anywhere. You're safest here with us." A murmur of agreement winds it's way around the room.

He looks down for a moment before meeting her eyes, oddly hesitant and the word shame flashes through Klaus' mind again. "But you might not be safe with me."

"I don't care."

"I do."

She reaches out, covering Five's hand with her own and Klaus watches him tense, still uncomfortable with gentleness. Five acted like softness of any kind was an anathema to him, particularly if there were witnesses. But he allows it because it's Vanya; she had certain privileges the rest of them didn't.

Not for the first time Klaus wonders if the entire apocalypse could have been avoided if Five had simply never made that doomed jump into the future in the first place. His disappearance had hit Vanya the hardest, even if the rest of them had been too far up their own asses to notice. If he'd never time traveled, he would have been there. Their lives might have played out very differently. It might have been enough.

"Please don't go anywhere," she says softly.

A lot of things happen in Five's face but Klaus can't identify most of them. Since coming back from the future Five's been a cipher; emotions encrypted behind a firewall of disdainful superiority and caustic, world-weary cynicism that Klaus has almost given up trying to hack. Not that he hadn't always been disdainfully superior; he had, even as a kid. But he'd been everything else too: a playful, mischievous, temperamental little asshole...whatever he was feeling in the moment he'd been both unashamed and unafraid to display and consequently Klaus never had any problem knowing exactly how things stood with Five on a given day.

The brother who left would have had a hell of a lot more to say about the future other than "it's shit".

Five looks down again but nods in silent acquiescence and Vanya offers him a small smile of gratitude, curling her fingers around his.

Klaus feels very much like he's intruding on a private moment despite everyone else being in the room too. "I'm ummm...gonna go get something to eat. You hungry?" he asks Five, who looks surprised by the question.

"Yes," he says slowly, as if the thought had only just occurred to him.

"Cool, cool. What is it- peanut butter and jelly, right?"

"Peanut butter and marshmallows," Five corrects, and Klaus bobs his head.

"Ah yeah, that's right. Okay, so- I'll be back." He gives them a quick, easy smile and beats a hasty retreat, Ben falling into step beside him.

"Peanut butter and jelly?" Ben asks him once they were a safe distance away.

"At least he remembers what he likes," Klaus says nonchalantly, but even dead Ben is smarter than that.

"It was a test, wasn't it? You really think the Commission messed with his head."

Klaus shrugs. "Good way of seeing how much he remembers. Who outside of this family knows he eats fluffernutter sandwiches? That is not the sort of thing an assassin admits to anyone."

Ben shakes his head, still troubled. "Whatever they did, I don't think it's going to be that easy to detect."

Klaus pulls up short and turns to look at him. "You think so too." He wishes it could be a question; they both know it isn't.

"Did you notice his voice?"

Klaus blinks, momentarily thrown off course as he tries to remember if there was indeed anything significant about Five's voice. "Yeah, I mean...it was a little hoarse. Sounds like he's got a frog in his throat."

"Klaus," Ben says, in exactly the way that lets Klaus know Ben thinks he's being an idiot without actually having to say it. His next words send a chill down Klaus' spine.

"He sounds like he's been screaming."